WMA Lossless Audio
WMA Lossless is the Windows Media Audio variant that preserves encoded source audio data without compression loss.
WMA Lossless is Microsoft's reversibly compressed audio member, identified separately from lossy WMA Standard and Professional. Its format identifier is 0x0163.
| Property to record | What it establishes |
|---|---|
| Lossless member/identifier | Which decoder and reconstruction promise apply |
| Sample rate and precision | The represented PCM format |
| Channel layout | Roles of the reconstructed signals |
| Sample count/duration | Whether the whole presentation is retained |
Convert a legacy lossless collection
A useful conversion follows three independently checked results:
- Decode the WMA Lossless audio to its supported PCM representation.
- Encode those unchanged samples with the chosen compatible lossless codec.
- Transfer and verify the collection's tags, artwork, and organization.
For example, a 44.1 kHz stereo source with 44,100,000 sample frames represents 1,000 seconds. A destination that retains the same values, order, rate, and count retains that audio even though its compressed bytes and size differ.
Metadata preservation needs its own check. Comparing whole-file checksums between different codecs cannot establish sample equality, because the packages are intentionally different.
If the source was WMA Standard instead, the first step produces its lossy reconstruction. The new lossless file would preserve that reconstruction rather than restore an earlier master. The member identification at the start is therefore decisive.
An Emby client may also receive a temporary lossy delivery version of a retained WMA Lossless master. That changes the session's encoded presentation while leaving the library source available. Record those as source and delivery results separately.